Music Practice Tips, Recommendations, Techniques, and Reviews for Teachers, Parents, and Students.
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The unique performing arts school I work for is looking for a new home. It's a happy problem to have - we're bursting at the seams with students at our current location in West Chester, PA.
The school is an offering of the Pennsylvania Leadership Charter School, a K-12 cyber school. Students take their coursework from home via web-based lessons. For those within a two-hour drive of West Chester, students may audition to enroll in classes at the CPFA beginning in 5th grade. The students spend two days a week for an entire school day taking classes in music, art, drama, and dance.
The middle school students (grades 5-8) also experience a course called integrated arts, where an area of focus is explored by all four disciplines. This year, our theme is "The Italian Renaissance" and to finish the year, the middle school students will be staging the masquerade ball scene from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Students will be assigned roles as actors, dancers, musicians, or will help the art department make masques for the dancers and actors to wear during the performance.
The high school students do exceptionally brilliant work. The art shows each semester are amazing, the theater department puts on five productions a year (two middle school and three high school, including an original murder mystery script written by center director Mark Allen), and the music graduates are auditioning for prestigeous music schools such as Berklee, North Texas, the Frost School of Music (U. Miami), etc.
If anyone among my readership knows of an available building in the Greater Philadelphia area that can fit the following needs, please let me know. The building can be in a corporate park, a former school building, a former church building, a former anything. We're looking for:
Any assistance or leads would be greatly appreciated. A big welcome to the new readership that has joined my newsletter list over the past two months.

This article (c) 2010 by Thomas J. West. Please contact the author before reprinting on or offline.
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If you started learning how to play a band or orchestra instrument in an American elementary school, you probably had the experience of having to fill out a practice chart. You know the one - you have a grid with 7 blocks for each day of the week and a spot for your parents to sign. You are supposed to write down how many minutes you practiced each day (30, right?) and then have your parents sign it for submission to your music teacher each lesson.
What did this activity teach me as a fourth grader? Traditional charts accomplish little except teaching students how to fudge numbers and forge their parents' signature. Even honest little kids like me were forced to fake the signature when my parents lapsed and forgot to sign the chart. Practicing at home is essential, especially in the early stages of skill development on an instrumnet. Most American public school elementary music programs have little room in the schedule for instructional time, so home practice is essential.
After that formative stage of skill building in elementary school, the average instrumental student resorts to as little, if any, home practicing. Depending on the demands of the school's music program and the community that supports it, students home practice can range from doing none to having private teachers and practicing several hours a week. Unless your child is part of a program like Carmel Indiana, where the top orchestra (out of five!) is by audition and every single student studies privately, the majority of school programs in the country are in the former category. Even in the one high-achieving band program I've worked for, students as a general rule did very little practicing at home.
How is it that it is common practice to not practice? Quite simply, because most music programs are thought of as "the extra stuff" or "the fun stuff" rather than as an important part of a child's education. For students with high aptitude, they don't need to practice to play the level of literature their program is working on. For students with average musical aptitude, the amount of rehearsal during the school day is sufficient to get them to become proficient by concert time. And for those with low musical aptitude, they often just hang out in the bottom of their section, play the "easy parts", and lay out of the more difficult technical passages. In most programs, students are graded on participation, which is simply being present for all classes, out of school rehearsals, and performances. There are additional portions of their grade for playing tests or seating challenges, but most teachers design their grades so that a person can just show up, be a good participant, and they'll get a C or better.
So, how does a music teacher motivate their students to practice? How do we push the envelope of what the band or orchestra is capable of? Let me share the evolution I have been experimenting with so far.
I teach at a rather unique School for the Performing and Fine Arts. At the school, we have the challenges and benefits of small class sizes. I average about six students per class, and I combine classes to form a 20-30 person chamber orchestra for concerts. The expectation is that they every student is going to maximize their aptitude and become proficient on their chosen instrument. By proficient, I mean capable of playing major and minor scales and arpeggios, play the full range of their instrument, play expressively with proper tone, and be able to sight read and improvise. Depending upon their aptitude, lower achieving students may not be capable of all of these things, but they are capable of some of them. For the average student, all of these are possible with proper practicing and study.
I select repetoire that pushes the envelope in one way or another for every concert they are working towards.Even the advanced players have work to do, because if the ensemble literature doesn't challenge them, they have solo and duet literature assigned to them that will. Because of this, every student is expected to play their instrument five times a week (twice at school, three times at home) and are required to fill out and submit a practice journal entry once a week. During the 2008-09 school year, the practice journal was designed to teach the students how to create an effective practice session.
There were three main sections they had to fill out - one for warm-up and scales, one for repertoire, and one for what I called "fun time", which could consist of sight reading, improvising, or playing a tune out of their method book they already mastered and enjoyed playing.
Initially, as with any change, they were slow to respond. I had to chase them down often. After a while, they got used to just jotting down some specifics like approximate time spent on each phase and the specifics of what they worked on. There was also a section of the page to write comments on each thing. The form enabled me to see what they were actually working on, how long they spent on it, and even give them feedback on the comments they made about their practicing.
At the end of the first year, it became apparent that I was not going to need to continue to reinforce the concepts the students learned about how to practice effectively. I needed to give them a way to evaluate their own performance as part of the journal. Stealing a page from my work as a marching band adjudicator, I created the following:

The newly designed practice journal page did not have a slot for estimated time. The focus was on student self-analysis, so the amount of time it took to get the results they wanted varied. The new journal page had a section for scales and arpeggios, a section for method or etude book assignments, and a section for repertoire. Each section had a blank for the student to score themselves using the rubric (a final total for the week on that item), how many octaves (for scales and arpeggios), and a "problem spots" blank for them to identify problematic techniques or measure numbers.
It took a while for student to figure out how to use a rubric (many of them just wrote a 1, 2, 3, or 4 for the levels rather than using the 100 point scale), but here at the half-way mark of the 2009-2010 school year, they are becoming quite good at using the rubric to evaluate their progress towards performance readiness.
Now I know what you're thinking: "They can still lie to you." Of course, and I have no way of holding them accountable for the accuracy or veracity of the data they submit. However, it is fairly apparent from their in-class performance (which they also receive weekly points for) and the lack of progress over time. In most cases, the students are very astute about their own performance and rate themselves quite accurately (or even too harshly) using the rubric.
The evolution of this concept for next year will include some method for them to track their ratings from week to week and see if they are consistently rating themselves and approving each item they practice.
If any music teachers out there use a practice record system similar to this or any system at all, please post a comment or send me your thoughts.
This article (c) 2009 Thomas J. West. If you wish to reprint this article on another website or offline, please contact the copyright holder before using.
If you find this website helpful, please leave a donation for Tom
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Here are a few new musically-related folks that I've had some great chats with on Twitter recently:
MeLikeGoodMusic @MeLikeGoodMusic has a really cool website where he features a song by a different underrated artist daily. He spans multiple genres and styles from hip hop to broadway. We've had some cool chats about show tunes in particular.
Gae Phillips @gphilli is a 6-12th grade band director from Columbus, Kansas. He is one of the growing number of music educators who are joining the cyber age. His band website is a great resource for his students and even instructs them on how to use Twitter to learn new things. We've been swapping band director war stories!
Alex Choral @AlexChoral is the official Twitter home of the Alexandria Choral Society of Alexandria, Virginia. They are a community adult choral organization and just had their auditions for the new season recently. I've had fun following their process and giving them some tips on how to get some sound clips on Twitter using TweetMic.
It was only a matter of time before I crossed paths with Andy Zweibl @Zweibz7 online somewhere. Andy is a Music Education major at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. In addition to his own website, Andy also blogs on MusicEdMajor.net and somehow manages to find time to manage the UM Band website, be president of his school's CMENC chapter, and meet all the requirements of a Music Ed major (which are hefty, folks). Andy is one of those aspiring music educators who has already embraced social media as a way to network, learn, and discuss music teaching with other music educators everywhere. I'm looking forward to following and sharing regularly.
More music tweeps next week. Thanks to these folks for chatting with me and sharing their experiences.
This article (c) 2009 Thomas J. West. Please contact the author before publishing on or offline.
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Just this past week, my cousin emailed me. Her daughter is going into third grade and is interested in starting to play the violin. My cousin played flute back in grade school but quit before high school and doesn't remember much of her formative music instruction. She asked me for advice on how to find the right instrument for her daughter.
I found it rather unfortunate that the strings teacher at her daughter's school did not supply them with more information on making this important decision. The teacher measured her arm and sent home a sheet indicating that she should get a 1/2 sized violin and gave them a list of music retailers in their area. My cousin asked me some very intelligent and critical questions. I realized as I was answering them that this would be a great bit of information to share with my readers.
Here are the questions my cousin asked me and my responses:
Nearly every beginning instrumental student rents an instrument rather than buying for a few reasons:
When it comes to beginner instruments, any well-established musical instrument company is going to have a product that will meet the needs of beginners. The truth is that the quality of the instrument is not nearly as important at the beginner stage of development because the beginner has not developed enough control for the equipment to make a difference. When a student reaches the intermediate level of development, which usually occurs in middle school or even into high school, the quality of the instrument and accessories becomes much more critical.
Most any music retailer has well-trained sales staff who are used to parents calling in and having little to no knowledge about musical instruments. They will have no trouble giving you a rundown of the various brands they have to rent and the price ranges they fall in. Many retailers give you a two or three tier pricing schedule (economy, mid-line, and deluxe). Going with something in the middle of the price range is usually the most popular choice and what I recommend to most parents.
I also made the following suggestions to my cousin as she called the music stores on her list:
Above all, parents should work with music teachers for the mutual success of the student on any issues surrounding instrumental music study. It saddens me that some music teachers will simply give their beginners a list of music stores and say "go rent one." Parents should not be afraid to speak up if there is technical information they don't possess when it comes to music equipment, lessons, practicing, or any other related issues. That is, of course, unless your school's instrumental music teacher is scary, and not just for the kids!
This article (c) 2009 Thomas J. West. Please contact the author before publishing on or offline elsewhere
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So now that I am back to school, time is limited. I thought I'd put together a quick list on Follow Friday of people I've met on Twitter. The criteria I used for who I'm highlighting here are simple.
So here's this week's list. More to come in the future:
Bernie Brice @trumpette1 is, according to her bio, "A trumpet-playing single mother!". She lives in Kent, UK and according to her website is part of a trumpet-playing duo that plays all kinds of events. We've had some nice chats about music, our kids, and daily "life stuff". Now that I've looked at her website, I guess I'm going to have to start following @trumpette2 now too!
Mike @woodwindtech is a middle school band director from New Jersey who, in addition to his own blog, writes reviews of new apps for the Iphone for AppVee. Mike and I have chatted about band director stuff and have enjoyed retweeting eachother's messages as well.
Lewis Partridge @NinjaDrummist is a skilled set player from Lutton, UK who plays professionally and teaches professionally as well. His website has lots of great free drumset lesson videos and more. He really digs the info on my website and I have agreed to make his drumset videos available on my video page. Look for them soon.
Laura Lowe @lylowe is an "Independent piano teacher. Freelance organist and pianist. Golf widow. Ballet mom." from Evans, Georgia who shares a lot of great experiences on her blog. She and I have chatted about the use/uselessness of practice logs, individual student techniques, and more.
Josee Deschenes @dimeaglass is a manager/singer/songwriter/guitar player/violap player based in Nashville, Tennessee. In addition to managing bands at Dime-a-glass Entertainment, she plays in the band Trevor Finlay. We've swapped some stories, and last Follow Friday, she listed me as someone who's tweets are "fun and interesting," so she gets the props this week!
It's All About Relationships
Marketing online is all about building relationships with people. I've enjoyed chatting with these and other folks in recent weeks. Please pay them a visit, and if you have interesting music-related tweets of your own, be sure to follow me and say hi.

This article (c) 2009 Thomas J. West. Please contact the author before publishing on or offline elsewhere
If you found this article to be helpful, please donate.
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I joined Twitter on July 25th after much resistance to the idea. I was first introduced to it by my some good friends who are computer programmers. They've been on board with Twitter since nearly the beginning, when it was mainly for cubicle monkeys who are on the computer all day as part of their job. When they introduced it to me originally about two years ago, my initial reaction was, "What a time sink! That seems pretty pointless. Who wants up to the minute updates on what I'm having for lunch?"
Since then, Twitter has exploded and now that I'm on board, it's easy to see why.
Hyper Social Marketing
Twitter enables anyone who has anything that they want to bring attention to online to build a targeted list of followers who are interested in what they want to bring attention to. The 140 character limit makes you choose your words carefully, which means that there's less static to read. Unlike Facebook, where you have to have mutual friends, Twitter allows you to follow someone else without following you back, which means you can build a list of followers just like an email subscribers list.
With the ease at which you can insert web links and share links with anyone, and the amazing built-in, minute-by-minute search engine capability, it takes practically no time at all to find your niche market and begin sending them information they are interested in.
The Twitter Learning Curve
Like everything else in Internet marketing, it takes some time to find out how Twitter works, what tools already exist to help you, and how Twitter users function. Just spending these first few weeks on Twitter has taught me a lot. Here's just some of what I've learned in the past month:
My Results After One Month of Using Twitter
Once I began really expanding my follower list, I broke the one-day record for visits to my website. I also am consistently getting a higher quality of visitor to my website. Before Twitter, I had about a 75% bounce rate (visitors to the site who remained on the site for less than 10 seconds). I have had several days the past week where my bounce rate had dropped to 45%.
More importantly, I made contact with some amazing people. @winkieflash inquired about my live online webcam music lessons and tried a free lesson with me (she's a flute player from The Netherlands!). I was also contacted by @MartinDeBourge with an offer to write a review for the Sing Clear vocal coaching product. I am enjoying working my way through the CDs and will write the reiview soon.
As I continue to refine my approach to Twitter, this trend can only increase.
My Golden Rules for Marketing with Twitter
Based on my year as an MLM business owner and my year of promoting this website, here are my guidelines for promoting anything using Twitter:
Follow successful social marketing people. You are known by and learn from the company you keep. I suggest people like @nhangen, @tomduong, @davidrisley, @problogger, and @craighcollins
What Works For You?
So, I'd consider my first month on Twitter to be a success. Twitter is definitely worth my time to continue to work with as another way to promote my work. Until the day that I am further out of debt and able to actually sink some money into promotion, I continue to have to rely on social marketing and relationship building as the main tools at my disposal.
If you are using Twitter to promote a website, product, or service and have other tips and tricks to share, please leave a comment, @reply me on Twitter, or send me a message.
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The modern metronome is an indispensable practice tool for musicians of any level of experience. Digital metronomes are readily available from any music retailer, as an app for your iPhone, or other online metronome websites.
Most student musicians and even some more experienced musicians do not realize how inconsistent humans are in terms of their perception of time. Our perception of time changes from moment to moment based on our emotional state. Music played at louder dynamics tends to rush, softer music tends to drag. Even a difference in age of the performers tends to produce differences in perceptions of "how fast time passes."
Most student musicians have an unpleasant experience when they first have a metronome forced on them by a teacher. Suddenly, music that the student thought they played well becomes clumsy and hesitant. This is because as they practiced before, they fluctuated in tempo based on their ability to correctly perform each passage. Parts that were "easy" to their perception tended to rush, while passages that were "hard" to them tended to drag. By playing with a metronome, the student is forced to perform at a consistent tempo, which will immediately highlight the passages in the music that they can not perform technically.
Students are reluctant to use a metronome because it "is frustrating" or "makes everything harder". This perception is due to the fact that they can "play it better" when they are allowed to make their own fluctuations in tempo than they can when they are required to maintain pulse. Once students work with a metronome for some time, under the guidance of a teacher, they begin to understand how valuable it can be. Here are some tips for incorporating metronome work into the practice of a student who does not use one.
One last thought on metronome use: It is possible to overuse the metronome, especially with ensembles. Performers should use the metronome to help develop their own internal or ensemble sense of pulse. It can just as easily become a crutch as having the music teacher clap and count along.
This article (c) 2009 Thomas J. West. If you wish to reprint this article on another website or offline, please contact the copyright holder before using.
If you find this website helpful, please leave a donation for Tom so you can enjoy the spirit of giving as well.
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Human perception is a fascinating thing. We do not sense what is actually "out there", we sense what we think is there based on our previous knowledge and beliefs. Two observers can see the same object and get two completely different experiences from that observation. For example, if I look at a famous painting, such as a Monet, I can admire it for its interesting use of color, blending, and proportion. I could then go and study the life of Monet, find out when he painted the work I had viewed, find out what his inpiration was for it, how the events in his life at the time shaped his vision, and how potential patrons may have influenced the painting. I could then return and view the painting again, but the experience would be quite different because of my increased knowledge of the work.
There is perhaps no greater place where this difference of perception is so easily demonstrated than in people's individual tastes in music. The more knowledgeable an individual is about music, the more likely they are to enjoy wider varieties of music and be able to understand more subtle layers of its construction. My wife and I have had several debates on the value of a piece of music. I often find pieces to be technically flawless and subtely expressive in its phrasing, and her reaction is that the same piece is fall-off-your-chair boring.
When it comes to music performance, whether as a soloist or as part of an ensemble, what you perceive is only a small part of what is actually going on. At any given moment during a rehearsal or performance, assuming you are focused on the performance and not allowing the mind to wander, your conscious focus is only on one single aspect of the music at a time. In one instance, you are concerned with your individual pitch matching the others. In the next moment, you are listening for vertical alignment in timing. In any given moment, there are scores of variables to assess and adjust.
What happens is, while you are focused on the multiple aspects of the performance, your conscious awareness is not noticing the ones you take your focus away from, along with many other stimuli that may be bombarding you at the moment. Add the ominous internal voice of "performance anxiety" to the mix, and the result is simply that there's too much for you to consciously perceive all at the same time.
Most musical ensembles that operate at a high level of excellence receive coaching of some kind from at least one pair of eyes and ears outside of the ensemble. In the case of many school bands and orchestras, this consists of the director running out into the middle of the house during the dress rehearsal in order to assess group balance. In the world of marching band and drum corps, there are instructors and judges both on the field and in the press box to work on all aspects of a group's performance. In the world of competitive barbershop quartet singing, top competitive quartets spend hours with coaches in order to achieve a 100% blended sound.
Most of us have probably had the experience of hearing our own voice on a recording (is that really what I sound like?) or seen ourselves on a video (my mirror image doesn't look quite like that guy). Recordings capture things exactly as they are - without the filter of our own personality, judgments, and perceptual limitations. The recorder captures what is actually there - nothing is covered over. This can be very enlightening, because you will hear things on the recording that you will never hear live. Recording can also be very frustrating, because it picks up every tiny flaw indiscriminently. I always tell my students and fellow performers that "the recording is unforgiving" because we as performers can't possibly hear and perceive everything that is happening. But, the good news is that the audience can't perceive it all either.
Ever have a great live performance and then go back and watch it on video? It can be a big letdown. Your memory of how it went live doesn't stack up to what the cameras recorded. This is the reason why hearing an unedited live recording of a phenominal musician or ensemble that is still a study in musical mastery is even more impressive. For the rest of us that do not have the time, resources, and ability to perform live at that level, making a recording has to be done with the right attitude. Recording your performance should be about detecting flaws and not about boosting or deflating your sense-of-self.
If you're not tech savvy, the good old hand-held tape recorder works just fine for detecting flaws. If you want to have a clean digital recording without spending an armload of cash, I recommend a simple digital voice recorder like this one. The microphone is uni-directional, which means you'll have to point your instrument at it or hold it in front of your mouth when singing in order to get a good recording, but if all you're looking for is feedback to work with, it does the job.
If you have a Mac or an iPhone, you can easily record and playback your sounds using the built-in equipment and software that comes with your computer.
If you're a PC person, or even if you want a better quality recording on a Mac, I suggest getting a simple stereo lapel mic like this one. The advantage of this is that you can clip the mic to your shirt collar, on the end of a brass bell, behind the bridge of a violin, etc. in order to get a full sound when making a recording. For recording solo practice work, the up-close mic work really enables you to hear well but also gives you a bit of sound from the room as well.
For recording sound on a PC, I highly recommend Audacity. The freeware version of Audacity gives you many of the features and abilities of professional level programs such as Cakewalk SONAR without having to spend a dime! I actually use a digital CD recorder, two omni-directional mics, and Audacity to make recordings of my student ensembles and concerts. There's a bit of a learning curve, especially if you've never used recording software before, but it doesn't take very long to learn how to make good quality recordings using this application.
Lastly, if you want to not only record your music, but have your computer give you feedback on your performance, provide accompaniment for you that follows your expressive phrasing, and have access to a huge library of music online, you have to check out Smart Music. I used Smart Music extensively with my students this past year and had some great experiences with it. In addition to all of the features mentioned above, Smart Music can record your performance as an mp3 file, so you or your students can email the recording or put it on their mp3 player. I will be writing a more in-depth article on Smart Music in the near future.
I recently sang in an a cappella concert with Project Philly. The concert was recorded and also had a live webcast. A few days after the concert, I went back and watched the recording from the live webcast, and was reminded again why I needed to write this article. The performances that evening were definitely of a high quality. However, one of the aspects of performing that was lacking across the board was ensemble balance. Balance was addressed at times throughout the concert preparation period, but as the directors of a cappella groups are nearly always performers as well, there was no time except at dress rehearsal when the directors stepped out and listened from afar.
Recording a performing ensemble should be a part of any concert preparation period during the final phase of macro-rehearsal. After all the nitty-gritty rehearsing has happened and performers are "putting it all together" and doing runs of entire tunes, recording the ensemble can be very illuminating in terms of balance, blend, pitch, and rhythmic flaws. I highly recommend to everyone (myself included) that either recording or having a trusted colleague listen to the ensemble or soloist from a distance be a part of every concert preparation about 3/4 of the way to concert time.
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When most people think of talent, they think of a person they know, whether personally or famously, who possesses a skill uncommon to the majority of society. Usually the word "talent" is used to refer to an exceptional athlete, artist, dancer, or painter. All of these areas of endeavor share a few common attributes - they are all demonstratable, they require a high degree of sensory and kinesthetic ability, and they all can be technically very complex.
Meriam-Webster Dictionary gives the following modern definitions of the word "talent":
The portion of this definition that causes the distortions in society's perception is the parallel drawn to the word "ability". The common assumption is that someone who exhibits fantastic ability in a sport or artform is automatically "talented" - endowed by their creator with abilities mere mortal men do not have.
With all of that dazzling ability, many people don't realize the countless hours of work and rehearsal Michael and his brothers spent perfecting and polishing their performances. If you've ever been to a live concert and seen a famous performer have an "off night" you know what a disappointment it is and how it can affect their popularity. Performers of all kinds - musical, athletic, and otherwise - always have to be at the top of their game, and that requires consistent practice to eliminate as many variables as possible.
What do you and I have in common with MJ? He loved music and performing. Our society has scared us away from our birthright to enjoy music firsthand. We have accepted a life where we experience music second-hand, performed by "talented people" in a music consumership. Why did we ever stop making music and start buying it from a supplier?
Once upon a time, people of all walks of life actually performed music themselves for entertainment purposes. There was no radio, no TV, no ipods, and formal music concerts were for the wealthy elite. People entertained themselves by singing folk songs, playing instruments, gathering around the piano, and so on. Music was enjoyed by many as an enriching hobby, and your ability wasn't nearly as important as your joyful participation.
As with most things in our culture, competition has led to a change in the landscape. While it is true that competition has pushed musicians to perfect their craft to the edges of the human being's sensory and physical capacities, it has also placed being a musician in the rarified air of the elite. Our culture, which respects and demands competition, has shaped music into a "you either have it or you don't" attitude. For a career in music, professional performers have to have a high level of natural aptitude and/or work ceaselessly on keeping their performance quality sharpened to a consistent, keen edge. If you don't have the "talent" to hang with the big boys, the best you can hope for as a professional music performer is a meager existence as a freelance performer or a studio musician.
Even organizations that once were for hobbyists have become increasingly competitive and eliteist. The Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barbershop Quartet Singing in America was founded at the turn of the century as a club for men who love to sing barbershop quartet music - one of two totally American musical artforms (jazz being the other). Now called the Barbershop Harmony Society, the focus is on ever increasing standards of competitive vocal wizardry. The "common man's" ability to participate in the society has waned.
The entire drum and bugle corps and high school marching band art forms have taken a similar path. I have experienced the marching band artform from every possible viewpoint and style, and the gap between the "have's" and the "have not's" continues to widen. I have experienced and know what it takes to operate at that elite level as a member of The Cadets drum and bugle corps. There needs to be a place where musicians can strive for the outer egdes of what's possible, but it is being done at the expense of the masses. Back in the early 20th century, there used to be a drum and bugle corps organization in small towns across the country. They were founded by VFW posts, church groups, and even Boy Scout troops. They provided boys, and later girls, with positive character-building experiences and aesthetic appreciation of music.
Drum corps still does that, but alas only for a couple of thousand kids a year.
The drum corps phenomenon has inevitably influenced American high school band programs in both positive and negative ways. Never has the performance quality and ability level of our children been higher, and some very special musical moments result from that attention to detail. However, to compete with the elite, marching band programs have to perform music and drill at ever increasing levels of technical difficulty, which, along with other factors, has shrunk the size of the average high school band considerably. It is common for bands in my part of the U.S. to field a band with 25-30 of their most elite musicians in order to remain competitive with bands of a similar size. The large bands in my area who are involved in competition are predominantly from large school districts that insist on a mentality of "being the best." Meanwhile, the rest of the student body is left out - left out of music, left out of sports, and looking for a place where they can "be good enough" at something.

There are high school band programs out there who still service 9-10% of their student population rather than the elite 1%, and they continue to find ways to give their bands events to play for that inspire them to greatness without leaving out the "average" student. They are in the minority, and in many areas of the country, you either play the competitive game or there is nothing else for the band to do.
In this age of economic meltdown and budget cuts, many school music programs find themselves in a self-created predicament: the only way to justify continuation of the music program is by how they fare in the field of competition. This holds true for orchestra and choral organizations as well, but mostly for band programs, which are inevitably tied to football. Football is America's version of the Roman Coliseum, where comptetitive barbarism shines in all its glory. Band programs in America's schools tend to be the flagship program of the music department because of its visibility in the community at the high school football games.
How do we bring balance back to arts education? When do we study art for art's sake? When do we stop teaching our children that you either "have it or you don't"? When does it become culturally acceptable to dance, sing, and make art without being judged? When can music become a birthright again instead of a commercial commodity for music consumers?
Why do we accept that some people are just "talented" and "special" and the rest of us are "nothing special"?
"Talent" is a four-letter-word, in my perspective. It is a word that is a barrier for most, an ego trip for some, and a signpost that points to a false reality for nearly everyone.

